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Saturday, 4 July 2015

Hospitals, a birthday and being everything to everybody all of the time

We've not had the most fun this week. Starting with Monday where Piper had an appointment to have 4 teeth taken out ready for her brace fitting in two weeks time.We have very patiently (18 months!) waited for Piper's top right fang to come through but sadly it has decided to stay buried under her gum and so there is nothing else for it but to be put under general anaesthetic and have it along with another fang and two bottom teeth taken out. I stress that there is nothing wrong with her teeth-they are very healthy, since she has been visiting the dentist since she was 6 months old! I had the exact same thing and so did Bailey two years ago-except he didn't have to be put to sleep to have his removed as they were all through.

Its been a long time since I've had to be inside the Children's Hospital, thankfully we have only ever had to stay in on one occasion when Piper was 8 weeks old and had a water infection. We had to stay in for 5 nights and its not a fond memory of mine to be honest. We've had the odd trip to A & E with accidents-bead stuck in ear-Piper, bumped heads-Bailey, Chest Infection-Cordelia and a fall down stairs-Ruben but thankfully nothing too serious. I had forgotten quite how much I dislike being in hospital, time moves so much slower in there...

We arrived at 12, hubby dropping us off, to get lost in the maze of corridors and different lifts. Finally found our department and then we were sat in there for 3 1/2 hours! Piper had to have her temperature and pulse checked, numbing cream on the back of her both hands ready for the anaesthetic, she was given these lovely NHS gowns to put on too:

We had quite a laugh getting her changed in the toilets and she even managed to make these look fashionable somehow!! She was so hungry bless her and couldn't eat from 7.30 am, neither of us expected to be sat for so long but it was so busy. I had such a headache and was pretty hungry/thirsty too. Then things to move so quickly, she was bumped up nearly an hour before the time she was scheduled to go down and in a room looking through a Where's Wally picture book whilst they put the cannula in her hand, then they put in the anaesthetic and she was gone in seconds. The abruptness of it all made me feel very teary and I was whisked out into the lobby, given a pager and told to come back in an hour and a half. On the way out to go to get a coffee I saw a private ambulance which was rather upsetting and did nothing to settle my nerves at all.

I was already in the waiting room when the pager started buzzing so was allowed to go straight in, she had just opened her eyes and was so vacant-she didn't have a clue who I was for a minute or so. She was so chatty and actually quite funny, she asked the nurse how she was meant to be a vampire now they had taken her fangs away?! She was really serious too! Then she was swearing. again quite funny, she kept talking about Grey's Anatomy and all the characters. Back on the ward and it took her quite a while to come round, she found it hard to drink as her lips were so swollen and numb-we gave up with the straw! She did eat an entire pot of yogurt and we got her clothes on before they took out the cannula. There were a couple of younger children crying after coming round from the anaesthetic so it was really noisy, I've never had a general anaesthetic but can understand how confusing it must be for younger children. Piper got much quieter so I knew it was wearing off, I rang hubby to pick us up and it was so nice to get outside in the sunshine, only 6 hours in there but it felt like days... She did manage to eat a full bowl of soup and two slices of bread when we got home.

She slept in quite late on Tuesday, I think she must have still had some anaesthetic in her and that mixed with the tablets knocked her out till around 9.30, which is late for Piper. Her poor face was really red and swollen on one side. I kept giving her alternate nurofen and paracetamol so she wasn't in any pain. We noticed one of her stitches had come loose so had to ring the hospital but they said it was okay as long as it wasn't bleeding.

A day of rest for poor Pippi, who has been an absolute star about all of it, not even complaining. The tooth fairy put a special order in to Japan for some Lolita shoes so that has cheered her up a bit!

I meanwhile made Pecan Pie for hubby's birthday, it was such a hot day-too hot for baking! Ruben played Lego with Bailey, there was Minecraft, Horrible Histories and Cordelia did her art. The girls and I popped to Sainsburys for birthday cards, we were only out for less than an hour but Piper was pretty wiped poor thing.

Wednesday morning Piper was still feeling very sore and in a fair bit of pain, she didn't get up until 9 again so there was only Ruben and I up to wish Hubby a very happy birthday. I made him some fresh pastries and coffee with a new cafetiere we had bought him. I'm not much of a coffee drinker but the kitchen smelt lovely! Slowly everyone else came down for breakfast and all the pastries were gone!

The hottest day of the year here, hitting 32 degrees Celsius! We had a lovely BBQ before a huge thunderstorm hit. Hubby and Cordelia sat under the beach parasol to watch it:

Bailey headed out to meet up with friends once the storm had passed, and we headed out to the cinema to see the much anticipated Jurrassic World. In the heat it was by far the best decision we'd made, the cinema was quiet and lovely and cool. We all enjoyed the film and it took Piper's mind off her swollen face and pain.

Back home for Pecan Pie, although only Hubby and I because no one else was hungry and Piper couldn't chew it! I took some silly shots of the children with their dad:

We all sat out until about 10pm because it was so hot, still 24 degrees at 10pm! No one slept very well, Ruben was up at 3am Thursday morning!!

He ended up going back to bed for a 3 hour nap and was in a much better mood when he came down. Was a much cooler day on Thursday but another home day. I had kept the calendar clear knowing Piper wouldn't feel up to anything. Was a good job as ended up taking Cordelia to the GP about her painful, heavy periods. Finally managed to get something for her which is already helping so she was in a really good mood for the rest of the day. She had a horse riding lesson, her first one outside but only for 10 minutes and then it started raining! The first lesson back since she came of the horse so I was a bit worried-hubby took her and she was fine thankfully!

Friday we popped to the local shopping centre and the library, was actually nice to be out of the house! Ruben decided he wanted to make tea so we bought some ingredients from Sainbury's and he made fresh pizza's for tea. Including a fresh pasta sauce from scratch-they were delicious!

It's been lovely to have such warm weather this week and its definitely been nice to sit in the garden, I think I might have gone a bit stir crazy in the house all week. We were all woken up at 3am this morning to a huge thunderstorm right over the top of the house, the rain was so loud and so everyone is tired today after being disturbed over night. piper got up in the night for pain relief too. I can't believe how much we have gone through this week, the letter says 2-3 days of discomfort but we are on day 5 since the op now.

Ruben has spent most of the day online today playing with a friend, Cordelia has spent most of the day in her room hanging out with Piper and drawing. We took Piper out to the supermarket with us to get her out of the house for a bit, she's feeling very fed up. Especially since her face has come out in a rather large yellow/green bruise :'( We took her to Mcdonalds for lunch and she has been much perkier since, she hasn't even had any painkillers since we got home, so hoping that is a good sign even though we had to replenish them all today!

This week its occurred to me that its hard to be everything to everyone all the time and more so when you have a poorly child! I've found it hard to concentrate on anything so I've been rubbish at blogging, messaging friends, replying to texts and emails. I feel like we have hardly done anything this past week and that there's been too much online time, something I'm not comfortable with. We have another busy week next week and plans with friends, its Ruben's BFF's birthday so we will get a chance to meet up and also a trip to the National Video Game Arcade in Nottingham-Ruben has been wanting to go for ages and we are meeting up with different friends there. Hoping Pippi is feeling much better in the next day or so....